Sitting in Remy’s library was nothing like sitting in Lumière’s. For one, this library was large and vaulted; the kind where you need a ladder to reach the upper shelves. There was much more room to move around in here than in my library back at home, and the seating choices were way more comfortable. This was the kind of library I had always wanted; a true haven for books of every kind where you could get lost for days at a time.
Moving the books from Lumière’s library to here had made sense. There had been a lot of old, irreplaceable books in my library, many belonging to Eliza—the witch whose legacy I was now continuing. And while the house’s magickal defenses made it a great place to store them, I couldn’t share their wealth of knowledge with the witches of New Orleans without allowing them to come in and out of my house whenever they wanted to. That just wasn’t practical. But also, moving our shared library to this house meant witches from all over the city could contribute their own books to our growing collection, which—much to my delight—now numbered in the thousands.
And that was where I found myself now, sitting on a chair, dressed to the nines, with a book in my hands.
I had spent hours getting my look just right with a teal, floor length, backless dress, which was longer at the back than it was at the front, creating a kind of flowing train as I walked. It was held up in spaghetti straps, had a slit with a slit down the front, and had been fitted to my build exactly so that the dress clung to my curves, keeping me tight but comfortable.
I hadn’t paid too much attention to my hair—there hadn’t been enough time. Lucky for me, I happened to be having a good hair day, and everything looked on point. But instead of sharing this fantastic look with the people already in the house, I had chosen to sequester myself in the library.
Why?
Because somewhere in here, I was convinced I would find the answer to the question that had been eating me up inside since last night. What the hell was it that had attacked me out there on the road? The details of what had happened were still hazy and difficult to make sense of, but what facts I could remember—amorphous as they were—had been enough to set me off on this research mission, leaving Nicole to handle hospitality duties.
There was a knock at the door, and then Remy walked into the library. “Mind if I come in?” he asked.
“Of course,” I said.
Remy shut the door and walked over to where I was sitting. He was wearing a deep purple suit with a black shirt and black tie, and he was carrying a gorgeous cane that was blood red and topped with a small gator’s skull. A musky cologne that I hadn’t smelled before entered the room with him.
“I hope you like how we set the library up,” he said, gesturing with one hand. A silver watch beamed from his wrist.
“I do,” I said, “Everything’s easy to find. I think the books will have a happy life here. Thanks again for donating the space.”
“Nothing to it. Made sense, didn’t it?”
“Yeah… it did.”
“Why aren’t you wearing your mask?”
I turned my eyes to the mask on the table. It was gray and lined with teal gemstones. Beautiful, and handmade. “Just trying to get some last-minute reading done before the party,” I said, showing him the book in my hands.
“You know, there’s a time and a place for study. You’ve earned yourself a chance to let loose and enjoy yourself. Take it.”
“I will, I promise. I’m just… I can’t shake what happened last night.”
Remy approached and, from over my shoulder, glanced at the pages I had been reading. “The rougarou,” he said, bemused. “You think you saw the rougarou last night?”
“I’m not ruling anything out.”
“Let me tell you, if half the things I’ve heard about the rougarou are true, you and I wouldn’t be having this little conversation if you’d encountered one.”
“Because you’re supposed to turn to stone when you see it?”
“Is that what it says in that book? Must be an old book.”
I looked at the pages again, checking for the paragraph which had spoken of the rougarou’s ability to turn people to stone with a glare. “Isn’t that what happens?”
“The jury’s out on whether it even exists, let alone what it can do or what it looks like. Some say it has the head of a wolf, others say it has the head of a gator—that thing’s the Bigfoot of Louisiana. But I will say one thing about it: if the beast is real, it wouldn’t be hanging around so close to New Orleans. What happened to you was something else.”
“Someone else.”
“Someone,” Remy agreed, “I’ll grant you that. Someone was messing with you. We’re going find out who it was and why they did it, but you need to put the book down because you won’t find answers in there, only more questions.”
“Yeah,” I said, slowly setting the book on the table and closing it. A sigh escaped my lips, and my shoulders dropped.
Remy circled around the table, putting himself in my line of sight again. “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked. “Because we can call this whole thing off if you want to. It isn’t too late.”
“Call it off?” I asked, “Tell people not to come?”
“If you want, we can do that. I’ll understand if you aren’t up for this. I know they will too, assuming we want to tell them what happened. And even if we don’t, this is your event, and you can call it off if you’d like.”
“I don’t think I could do that to everyone who’s planning on coming tonight.”
“I admire your politeness, but if you aren’t in a good place and won’t enjoy yourself, then why do this at all?”
I took a deep breath. “This isn’t about me,” I said, “It’s about everyone. We all need this. If I called it off, we’d just have to reschedule it and start all over again. I really don’t think any of us wants that. Least of all you.”
A smile crossed Remy’s lips. “What I want isn’t as important as what you want.”
The offer to call off the party was tempting, but that wouldn’t have been right. Not by the witches who had agreed to come tonight, or the vampires who were going out of their way to integrate back into our society. I stood upright, grabbed the mask from the table, and fastened it to my face, tying the bow delicately behind my head.
“I can’t cancel,” I said, “It wouldn’t be right.”
Remy nodded. “Then you’d better go welcome your guests.”
I started walking around the desk I had been sitting at, the teal dress flowing behind me like a waterfall. “What are you going to do?” I asked, noticing he hadn’t made a move toward the door.
“I’m going to stay here and see if I can’t do what you were hoping to do.”
“You’re going to read?”
“You are more important than I am tonight. Our guests will want to see you, talk to you, and you’ll want to show off that gorgeous dress of yours. I’m not needed until later, so if it’ll put your mind at rest, we’ll swap places.”
“Thanks Remy, I appreciate that.”
He pretended to tip a fake hat and smiled. “Now you run along, and save me a dance.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Remy had come a long way in the time I had known him. He had worked harder to make amends than any person I had ever known. He had earned his second chance, at least by me.